The Dubai government is backing five new Shariah-compliant hedge funds, alongside Barclays Capital.

Each of the five funds, set to launch in the next two weeks, will get $50 million in seed capital from the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority. All five funds will use the Al Safi Trust platform and Shariah Capital as adviser, with Barclays Capital serving as prime broker.

The five firms rolling out hedge funds following Islamic law are BlackRock Inc., Lucas Capital Management, Ospraie Management, Tocqueville Asset Management and Zweig-DiMenna International Managers.

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